Thinking Like A Magician
Omne Quod Non Videt Est: All Things Are Not As They Seem
The thinking required to be a magician is fascinating because it is a two-part process: what I am doing and what you think I am doing.
The art in magic is in hiding the art. I speak of transforming real-world actions into what appears to be magical occurrences. Consider magic as two parts the art in magic (the trick itself) and the art of magic (the skill to perform); it's performance art, a performance of hiding in plain sight. Magic is devised to fool the minds of the spectators rather than their eyes. The hand is not quicker than the eye, but the eyes see a great many things of which the mind takes no notice. Those details which pass unnoticed are the extra ones that make the trick possible.
As a magician, you're working within the place between reality and fantasy. For example, sleight of hand, mechanical devices, and gimmicks (or some combination thereof) is the actuality of magic.
But knowing the mechanics of a card trick, for example, is only part of being a magician. In other words, someone creates a trick, many people perfect it, but its final success depends on the person who presents it.
Two layers of thinking are co-occurring when a magic trick is performed. What the audience sees and hears influences what they perceive to be an impossible reality while you're actively working to hide the plausible explanation from your audience.
Be careful, too, that your actions and words do not betray what the audience experiences. Magic is deceptive, but that's also its upfront promise.
The audience must also never see through to the inner workings of what's hidden from them. They know you're sneaky, but if they actually suspect something specifically sneaky just happened, then you've failed at performing the mystery. When you try to do secret things in front of people, you can easily and accidentally give yourself away.
Magic is the presentation of a pretended miracle, and the magician's goal is to execute a clear portrayal of magical circumstances experienced by an audience visually, mentally, and emotionally.
Great things happen when you curate the psychology of deception with the mechanics of an apparatus... this multi-tasking mindset of magical thinking happening in concert by a charming person leading the way with a twinkle in the eye and a smile in the voice. That makes for delightful and memorable entertainment.